The M16A2 is God's gift to the modern rifleman

[03RN]

[Whiskey]

When I was a young soldier with an M16A2 and a Comp M4 on a gooseneck mount, all I wanted was an M4. Now that I am older, I want a M16A2 something fierce.

[eric0311]

I was issued an A2 in Basic… the M16A2 will always have a special place in my heart! I’ve been looking for a complete A2 upper for some time now… they’re incredibly hard to find!

[Malamute]

I like the standard rifle configuration compared to carbines (well, other than old Winchester carbines). I hardly ever kick in doors, my use has been small game and varmint hunting and longer range fun shooting out to 6-800 yards. It was a lot more fun when ammo was well under .20C/rd.

[JRB]

I posted this in a 20in AR appreciation thread a couple years back... very relevant to A2 love!

This was/is my hand-picked M16A2 from my previous unit's arms room. We had some M4A1's but not enough to go around, so I happily took an A2 since we were mobilizing as some straight turbo-fobbit logistics dweebs. That and I'm a nerd and I gushed pretty excitedly when I saw this rifle.

So this M16A2 started out as a GM Hydra-Matic M16A1 and the Anniston Army Depot arsenal marks on the right side of the receiver indicate an arsenal rebuild in 1985 and again in 1994. The upper is an EMCO M16A2 upper which had notoriously bad barrels, hence the re-barreling with an FN barrel (thought to be the '94 rebuild) and the BCG was an FN bolt with a replacement gas key featuring the worst staking job ever on an obviously ancient Colt C-marked carrier. Total parts bin mutt of a gun.

I wish I'd taken better pics of the whole rifle. She was kinda haggard, but in that 'honest wear' kind of way that can't be duplicated by anything other than honest use.

But I shot a personal best on open sights, a 38 out of 40, the very first time I qualified with this rifle. She had a 40 in her, I just jerked a shot low on a 'fast freddy' 50M target and I shot just over one of the 150M's because I got in a hurry.

I'd pay an utterly insane price to take her home.

Edit: Yes, that's my UCP pattern Woobie from 2008 and yes, that's a BFG sling I used with the A2 buttstock adapter to great effect on that rifle for the whole three weeks I carried it, before being forced to trade it for a SAW since they made me a tower guard NCOIC and our rank-heavy HHC indicated that crew served got carried by NCO's. I was okay with that part. Wasn't so okay with the heat in Kuwait or Iran's grand blue-balling all of us in Jan 2020 but that's a story for another thread.

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1228490

[titsonritz]

I posted this in a 20in AR appreciation thread a couple years back... very relevant to A2 love!



https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1228490

That is some old school carrier key staking right there.

[JRB]

That is some old school carrier key staking right there.

That whole rifle was old school. I like my PIP M4A1 w/RCO (aka ACOG) I have in my current unit, but I'd trade it in an instant to have that particular M16A2 back. Especially if I could blow a few minds and mount an ACOG to the carry handle. Amazing how many people, even Master Gunners and Arms Room NCO's, don't know you can do that.

[breakingtime91]

I learned to shoot rifles on an A2 in bootcamp and then got a fancy m16a4 with rco in infantry school. I loved both rifles but man was the m16a4 a heavy musket compared to the a2.

[Suvorov]

Agreed. Big fan of the A2. I carried on for most of my military career. In fact my Colt Sporter Target is probably my favorite rifle I own. Partly out of sentimental reasons but also because it’s a Dan, good rifle.

[nalesq]

When I was a young soldier with an M16A2 and a Comp M4 on a gooseneck mount, all I wanted was an M4. Now that I am older, I want a M16A2 something fierce.

So true! If you had told my young early GWOT self that a day would come when I would look back with fond nostalgia upon the M16A2, I would have rolled my eyes. But here I am, decades later, now wanting a copy of my old musket.